A Blessing in Disguise?
by ANBU-Captain.J.C.U
Summary: What if Orochimaru sunk his fangs into Sakura instead of Sasuke? Of course not on purpose but how will the story turn out? Will she ignore the dark whispers of the mark or do a Sasuke and leave Konoha?
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS, believe me if i did I would make Sakura and a few other characters more interesting and powerful.**

Obviously this is a new story and it's been on my mind for a very long time. I think even before Anti-clockwise. I am not abandoning Anti-clockwise I just have lost interest for it, so I'm taking a break from the story for a month or two. It's a pity that there isn't many stories that focus on the relationship of Sakura and Anko, and since the two of them are part of my top three kunoichis, I couldn't resist but write a sty surrounding them. Anyways, this story will be AU-ish though it will follow a the big plot lines in the anime/manga.

**ENJOY!**

_Ugh, what happened? _

Her eyes slowly flutter open, she clams them shut again as a burning sensation shots through her body.

_Gah! It hurts! Sasuke-kun? Naruto?_

"Sakura-chan," A sing song voice calls out.

_Where have I heard that voice before?_

Panic runs through the pinkette's mind as she tries to open her eyes once again, but can't. She tries to open her mouth, but also fails. Her eyes screw tighter as the pain increases before it becomes to much and she loses consciousness.

"Sakura-chan…" the luring voice calls out again.

A.B.I.D

The pink haired kunoichi groans as she sits up slowly, her hands grabbing the sides of her head as she squeezes her eyes shut, as if doing so will stop the pain. She momentarily freezes when she realises the burning sensation she felt is non-existent.

"Saku-chan…"

Her senses immediately flip to alert, her headache long forgotten as she straightens. Her emerald eyes cautiously peer around. "W-who's there?" she stutters, warily.

The person chuckles as they step out of the shadows with their arms crossed over their chest. "Aw, I'm hurt Saku-chan. Ya don't remember me?" A smirk makes its way onto the person's face as the pinkette's eyes widen in shock before a look of recognition and disbelief paints its way onto her face.

"I-i-inner?"

"Yes Saku-chan, it's me."

"W-what happened to you?" The pinkette stutters, still in a state of shell shock. In front of her was her inner self, the part of her that she locked away from the rest of the world. The parts of her that she declared were faults, and buried deep within. She blinks a few times before rubbing her eyes with fisted hands. A feeling of terror shot down her spine as she felt the coldness, hostility and power coming from her alter-ego. Hate and many other negative emotions seemed to roll off of her inner self in waves. And many of them she recognised, she felt them a lot during her childhood. And she did the only thing she knew, she buried them deep inside which created the person in front of her. Her legs began to shake as they gave out and she dropped onto her hands and knees.

Her doppelganger chuckles bitterly, "Orochimaru's what happened." She sighs at the look of confusion on her 'outer' self's face. "Ya really don't remember what happened?"

A shake of the head is what she got in reply.

"Remember, ya tackled Sasuke out of the way before the snake bastard could do whatever he was gonna do to him but he got us instead."

Sakura groans painfully and grabs her head again as the memories come rushing back.

**_"SASUKE!" She screams at her frozen teammate, before her brain could catch up with her body. She was moving in the direction of her teammate with a surprising amount of speed as she tackles the last Uchiha out of the way._**

**_Emerald eyes widen as she feels a sting on her neck. A burning sensation spreads through her veins. She grabs her neck as she screams out in pain. Before collapsing from the pain, she hears an angry shout. "How dare you get in my way, you damned wench! No matter, you will not survive to tell the tale. I'll be back for you, Sasuke-kun." _**

Sakura gasps as the memory come rushing back. "No, no, no!" She whispers as she clumsily yanks the collar of her red dress. "Fuck! This cannot be happening!"

"Oh, but it is Saku-chan."

Fear washes over the pinkette as she glances back at her inner self. She audibly gulps.

"Can't feel it Saku-chan?"

Sakura's eyes widen as she looks at her inner self, "s-so much power." She gasps, _t-this is more power than I have ever felt before. _"H-how did you get so much power?"

"That thing that Orochimaru put on us, I dunno what it does but all I know is that when ya passed out. I knew we were gonna die if I didn't do anything. So I absorbed whatever that thing is supposed to do to us. And then this happened."

"S-so m-much chakra,"

"That's right Saku-chan don't fight it, embrace it." She sticks out her hand, "take my hand Saku-chan."

"B-but its s-so dark and e-evil," she shivers as the temptation grew.

"Yes, maybe, but its power. What have we been from the start of team seven?"

"A burden," 'Outer' Sakura blurts out. Her eyes widen as the realisation hits her like a tonne of bricks. At first she thought it was her doubts but as the scenes of the past two and a half months flash through her mind, she saw just how useless she was.

_"You're even worse than Naruto."_ The comment flashes through her mind, like an electronic belt.

"Do you still want to be a burden?"

"N-no,"

"Then embrace this gift, use this power given to you, given to us. It's about time the world meets the real us."

Sakura's emerald eyes trail up the out stretched hand up to the owners face. Her eyes stop at the label 'inner Sakura' that seemed to be branded on the other's forehead. She bites her lip, a habit she's always had when she was nervous or unsure of something. Taking a deep breath, her emerald eyes meet her doppelgangers as she slowly reaches out to the outstretched hand…


	2. Nightmares and Decisions

Hazy forest green eyes flash dangerously as she pulls herself up into a sitting position, her chakra flares slightly in her panicked state before her eyes take a look at her surroundings and she calms down a little. She hesitantly moves her right hand to pull at her collar. Her viridian eyes sting with anger tears at the sight of the mark, which she later found out, is a curse seal. She growls as she remembers the events of the past two weeks.

A jolt of pain surges through her as the hand holding her collar moves to grab the location of the mark tightly. As if placing her hand over it will remove the mark and end the ever so painful nightmare.

She sighs tiredly as she flops back down onto her bed, releasing her hold on her neck and throwing her arm over her eyes as the pain slowly subsides. She attempts to go back to sleep but the memory of meeting her inner keeps flashing into her mind as well as other key events that happened in the Forest of Death. She shudders as the thoughts pop into her head.

Knowing her chances of going back to sleep are slim, she slowly sits back up and leans against the headboard. She tugs at her pyjamas again and looks at the annoying mark that was left on her neck. She frowns as she remembers the meeting with her inner. Since when was her inner self so full of hate and hostility? She shudders as she remembers the terrifying power that literally rolled off of her in waves. _What did she mean by 'it's about time the world met the real us'?_

She sighs again, after the encounter with her alter-ego, a million unanswered questions sprang up and most importantly, _what happened to inner?_ After she grabbed her others hand, it's like her other self-disappeared. But she knew that couldn't be correct because she could still sense her inner and the terrifying power that she holds.

Feeling another migraine coming, she pinches the bridge of her nose. The damned curse seal caused a tonne of problems, not only did her inner suddenly decide to either take a vacation in her mind or lie dormant. But she's been leaking! The part of herself that she suppressed for so long has been coming out. She blinks at her last thought and frowns again.

Could it be that because she suppressed her real self and all the negative emotions, she's ever felt in her short life that inner Sakura has become what she is? Is that really what she is? A person with a desperate thirst for destruction that she would use any power given to her.

**_Do you still want to be a burden? Then embrace this gift and use the power given to you. _**Her inner's words, her frown deepens as she recalls the words.

A part of her was so tempted to use the power given to her, _even if it did come from a bastard that was after Sasuke. _She growls dangerously at the thought as she remembers keys aspects of what happened that day. _Orochimaru's target was Sasuke. So, Naruto and I were nothing but collateral damage. _Her rage subsides as she frowns at her hazy memory. The only things she could recall from that day were tackling Sasuke out of the way and the meeting with her inner. _Damn that bastard, maybe I should just use this thing and hunt that bastard down and make him pay for even trying to brand Sasuke with this hideous excuse of power._

She sighs again, knowing her sudden thoughts of tearing the snake bastard from limb from limb and killing him in the most horrid way possible was definitely not normal, _not that he doesn't deserve it. _She shakes her head at her own ludicrousy. _Yep, I'm going insane. Maybe I should skip training and talk to a medic Nin or maybe I should pay Ino's dad a visit. _

Her eyes widen as she turns her attention to her nightstand and the black alarm clock sitting on top. "Fuck!" she curses as leaps out of her bed rushes towards the bathroom.

A.B.I.D

_Shit, shit, shit._ She was late for her training session with Kakashi-sensei. She pumps some chakra into her legs as she speeds down the narrow streets of the village. _Damn it!_ She knew she shouldn't have gotten so lost in thought or even bothered to think back to that incident. Every time she did, she ended up stuck in the same spot forever.

She slows down to a fast walk as she finally takes a bite out of the piece of toast that has been hanging out of her mouth ever since she left her house.

As she takes another bite out of the near devoured piece of bread, her eyes drift to the bandages wrapped tightly around her right hand. She frowns slightly as the annoying itch comes back, _stupid Chidori and its stupid self-harming side effect. _Over the week that has just past, Kakashi has been teaching her and Sasuke the Chidori even though she tied with Ino in the preliminary rounds and didn't make it into the finals. She scowls as she remembers the third day of training where she couldn't even make a little bit of lightning appear in her hand whilst Sasuke could at least make a mini version of the full Jutsu. Obviously she isn't a lightning user but Kakashi still made her learn it and when she asked why, he would reply with _The Chidori is a better weapon than the curse mark._ Her scowl deepens a little; _I bet if I never got this stupid mark, he wouldn't even bother. _

She slows down to a normal walking pace, her lips turn upwards and her viridian eyes light up as she spots her favourite shop. _Might as well_, she thought with a shrug as she made her way to the enterance.

A.B.I.D

Finishing the last of her dango, she lazily tosses the skewer over her shoulder as she heads towards the location of her teammate and teacher. Her eyes narrow slightly at the familiar sound of chirping birds; she stuffs her hand into her pockets with a sigh. Her mood dampens a little as she remembers the condition of the red dress after the Forest of Death and the Preliminaries, by the time she got out of the hospital and returned home it was all dirtied up with mud and blood and there were several rips and tears in it. Though she was fond of the attire, it wasn't practical enough which she realised in the forest of death and she was thankful for the wakeup call because she was sure if she didn't realise it then, she would never have bought the new outfit she has now. Her new clothes not only made her look good but also made her look more of a ninja. Currently she is wearing a black tank top, a pair of quarter length black shorts, black ninja sandals and a high collared red jacket with white circles each arm.

"You're late Sakura." The voice breaks her out of her musings as she turns to her teammate Uchiha Sasuke.

She grins sheepishly and scratches the back of her neck, "sorry, I was on my over when I heard dango calling my name. And of course I couldn't leave the problem unattended." She freezes as she realises what she just said, _dammit! I've been hanging around Kakashi-sensei too much,_ she concluded. She made a mental note to herself to spend as little time with the man as possible; she really didn't want to pick up anymore of his habits_, like reading Icha Icha in public. _But then again if she didn't spend as much time with her sensei as she has been then she would never have gotten the increase in her stamina, speed and chakra reserves that have almost doubled over the course of the week. Or get to know him or Sasuke better, and as she started to understand her teammate and teacher better the relationship have developed as well.

"Tch, you eat too much of that stuff." His eyes narrow at the rosette, "you were thinking again."

She frowns at how transparent she is to the last Uchiha but it was all the confirmation he needed. Yes, the relationship between the two Genin definitely improved. After saving him from receiving the curse mark, Sasuke has been a little warmer and more protective of his female teammate. While Sakura stopped the annoying declarations of affection and started to act more like herself. Through the events of the Chunin Exams and training sessions has made her see that her 'love' for the lone Uchiha had been false. As they trained together, she realised her feelings were solely based on an obsession of what she thought the boy was and an admiration for his skills. But now those feelings have morphed and changed into feelings, which would and could only be felt between siblings.

Yes siblings, who would have thought that Haruno Sakura would ever think of Uchiha Sasuke as a brother?

"Good to see, you've finally made it Sakura-chan." Kakashi greets cheerfully, with one of his eye smiles.

She chuckles nervously, "sorry, I got side tracked."

"It's okay Sakura-chan," she lets out a breath; she didn't know she was holding at the reply, "but that doesn't mean that you will go unpunished."

"WHAT! That's not fair! You're always late; you don't ever see me, Naruto or Sasuke punishing you for being late!" She shouts back in disbelief while pointing a finger at the Copy Nin.

"Aa, yes but I am your Sensei so I make the rules Sakura-chan." he replies with a smirk.

"I'll remember this." she grumbles as she crosses her arms over her chest and scowls at the ground.

"Good, Sasuke and Sakura tai-Jutsu spar."

The pinkette groans as she follows her teammate to an open space and gets into a stance. "Sadistic bastard," she growls as she blocks a punch.

A.B.I.D

"You okay Sakura?" Sasuke asks with a smirk.

"What do you fucking think!" she growls at the last Uchiha.

"Now, now Sakura-chan, such language should not be used by a lady." The masked ninja teases, "get up we're not done."

She groans as she gets up again and ducks the fist aiming for her head. She blocks another and another before a leg trips her up making her fall flat on her face.

"Tsk, tsk. Sakura-chan, you could do much better."

"Yeah, well I would if you didn't make my weights heavier!" the pinkette screams at the silver haired ninja as she glares at him.

_Thank you kami, that looks cannot torture and maim._ The Copy Nin thought, "Alright, Sasuke you done?"

"Hn."

"Alright, I want the two of you to practice your Chidori on that boulder." He points a glove covered hand at a boulder to the side.

The last Uchiha wordlessly gets up and into position whilst the rosette got up with another groan and slowly dragged herself to her teammate. Once in position, the two share a nod as they simultaneously do the same hand signs. A blue ball of lightning sparks in their hands, Sakura frowns as she watches her ex-object of affection charge at the boulder, the attack filling the silent environment with chirping like sound. _He's Chidori is always bigger than mine._ She inwardly cursed her small chakra reserves because of the lack of her reserves, she can only make a little one or else she'll drain herself like she tried before. Her chakra was so depleted after a few seconds of activating the Jutsu that she had to be carried home by her sensei. Seeing Sasuke flip backwards, she also charges at the boulder.

Kakashi watches with his arms crossed over his chest and nods as Sasuke back flips in front of him, his gaze turns to the soon charging girl. He frowns slightly as he watches her attack the poor boulder. After hearing what happened in the Forest of Death the Copy Nin couldn't help but feel as if he failed his students even though all the other Jonin disagreed, all saying something along the lines 'you couldn't have predicted Orochimaru would encounter your team.' His frown deepens, he knew he couldn't predict Orochimaru seeking them out but he could have at least prepared them more and trained them from the start. Though he did it subconsciously, he favours Sasuke over the other two, whether it was due to the last Uchiha being his previous teammate's nephew or him being a mirror image of himself when he was younger, that was in the past. _What's done is done… _Oh how he hated that phrase but it was true, no matter what he did now couldn't change the past. The only thing he could do now was make sure to not fail his teammates and students again. As he watched his pink haired student charge at the boulder, he felt a swell of pride. Over the course of the week he's noticed that his only female student had a lot of potential but it was hidden due to her false affection for Sasuke. He was glad and thankful that kami gave him another chance to witness Sakura's development from the little fan girl she was two weeks ago to a hard working Kunoichi. He couldn't be more proud.

Seeing the rosette flip backwards breaks him out of his train of thought, "Okay, Sasuke, you have great power and speed but you're still putting too much chakra into the Jutsu. We will work on your chakra control a bit more." The last Uchiha grunts in reply, "Sakura, you have great chakra control. You do not put more chakra than necessary but you lack the power at the jab, you will need to increase your speed for this and once your reserves increase we'll try a full powered one. However the two of you still need work on the sparks; I doubt the two of you want to be wearing bandages all the time." The rosette nods in reply. "Alright, Sakura you can go and keep the weights on, they will gradually increase your speed and do get here on time tomorrow."

"Um, Kakashi-sensei…"

"Hm?"

"I think I can train on my own from here."

Sasuke's eyes widen a little as he turns his attention to the pinkette, as the Copy Nin raises a brow at his only female student.

"O-oh I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything. I just think that you should train Sasuke more since he's going to be in the finals. I'll be fine on my own for the rest of the month. "

"Well, if this is what you want then we'll carry on after this month." The masked ninja shrugs.

The pinkette grins, "Alright, I'll see you at the stadium then."

"Sakura," Sasuke says with a frown.

"Don't worry Sasuke; I'll be fine on my own."

His lips twitch upwards into a small smile, "thank you."

"Sakura," said girl turns her attention back to her teacher, her brow rises in confusion as his hand lowers and ruffles her hair, "you've improved a lot this week. I'm very proud of you."

She blinks in shock before she smiles at him. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei." Her smile soon turns into an evil smirk, "oh and you two better be on time. If you guys are late to the finals, I promise there will be serious consequences."

The two males quickly nod. "D-don't worry Sakura-chan. We'll make it on time." Kakashi replies with an eye smile.

"Good." She answers before making her way to the exit.

A.N.I.B

Sakura groans as she slowly drags herself down the streets of Konoha. Her legs slowly take her to a familiar shop. _Aa dango, definitely earned. _

"Ah! Sakura-chan nice to see you back! The usual?" the shop keeper greets cheerfully.

"Yeah please." She replies tiredly as she plops herself down onto a table.

The shop keeper chuckles at the younger girl, "another day of training?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei was being a sadistic bastard; he practically beat me up today."

The shop keeper chuckles again as he places a dish in front of the younger girl. The pinkette reaches for her wallet when a hand stops her, "don't worry about it Sakura-chan, it's on the house."

The pinkette blinks before she grins, "Thank you so much, Isshin-san!"

A.N.I.B

In the Hokage's office; Sarutobi Hiruzen famously known as the Sandaime Hokage and the professor of all Shinobi, he should be doing the mountains of paperwork that comes with the job, if one would to enter his office they would think he was day dreaming as he sat smoking his pipe and stroking his beard. His gaze focuses as he turns from the stacks of paper to his crystal ball; his thoughts were of what he witnessed between Kakashi and his two students not so long ago.

He's secretly been observing the trio over the course of the week, mainly Sakura. The girl has improved greatly over the week; he was truly impressed with the girl's development. He takes another puff as a thought enters his mind, after all leaving the girl unattended for the month could be dangerous especially if she's doing training without supervision. He nods to at the thought, moving her to the command of one that has experience with the curse mark will not only take a load off his shoulders but benefit the girl as well but the cons that come with the idea. The main being the council; his previous teammates and Danzo which he didn't fully trust, yes the three are going to disagree greatly with his next decision. He shakes his head at how annoying the three elders can be even though two of them are his old teammates he couldn't help but feel a tad bit annoyed at having them at situations like this, seriously from the way they questioned his every decisions and such, you would think they didn't trust him or see him fit to be the Hokage.

"Crow,"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" The ANBU appears with his head bowed.

"Bring me Mitarashi Anko."


	3. Meeting the new Sensei

Mitarashi Anko famously known as a proctor of the Chunin exams and Konoha's most Psychotic Kunoichi, seeing her with a box of dango in hand is not an uncommon sight. She hoovers dango like Naruto does with Ramen. Which is another parallel between the two ninja, but the excited gleam in her chocolate brown orbs, the giant grin that could literally split her face in two and the extra bounce in her step was definitely unusual. So as the infamous snake mistress made her way down the streets of Konoha and towards the civilian sector. Everyone made sure to stay out of her way.

Though not an unusual sight for ninja and civilians to stay out of the psychotic kunoichi's path, they were usually more discreet. Like showing her the upmost respect and 'slyly' dodging her and staying out of her way. But you can't really blame them can you? After all who would want to be in the way of a psychotic woman who is also a skilled kunoichi.

Whether the purple headed kunoichi noticed the treatment or not, she simply continued on her merry way.

Now, why was Mitarashi Anko in such a good mood?

**_"You summoned me, Hokage-sama?"_**

**_"Ah, yes. Anko I have an offer for you," the leader of the village smiles one of his famous grandfatherly smiles at the kunoichi in front of him, "I know you have wanted a student for a while and though the council have not agreed on this yet. I believe I have the perfect candidate for you."_**

**_The kunoichi blinks in surprise before her face splits into a grin, totally forgetting that she is talking to the strongest ninja in Konoha, she blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. "Who, who?" it took everything she had to not jump up and down on the spot. _**

**_"Haruno Sakura."_**

Today is the day; she will finally be getting a student. No matter how much she made it seem that she hates kids, she secretly thought they were adorable and has always wanted a student. Seriously, what ninja wouldn't want someone they could pass their skills onto? After all an opportunity like this only comes once for someone like her and once only.

She knows the council will never assign her a team of Genin even if she did decide to go on and take the Jonin exams to become a full Jonin. No matter how much the Hokage trusted her or what she did for the village; she knew the old bats would never approve of her as a teacher to rookies. She couldn't blame them for being cautious, not only does she have Jutsu leading to Konoha's most dangerous missing nin but she also has the thrice damned mark on her neck which makes her a direct link to the bastard. She understood that many were wary and that many dislike her due to her betrayal all those years ago, though she believes that people should just get over it. She knows she had no one else to blame but herself for being too trusting and naïve to blindly follow her ex-mentor.

The corner of her lips dip downwards at the thoughts of her past and how it's affected how people treat her now. _Oh well, what's done is done. _She shrugs and pushes the 'what if' thoughts to the back of her mind, and thinks about her new student; Haruno Sakura, which immediately lightens her mood.

Yeah, the kid's skills are pretty shabby and if she had to be honest and say it out loud, they were downright embarrassing to even be called 'skills'. She scowls slightly at the thought of her first and probably last student being an exam washout but there's always time to improve yourself, and from what she's heard from the Hokage, the girl is finally taking the life of a kunoichi seriously. Not that she could blame the girl, after her experience in the Forest of Death.

Apart from academy records of the girl which made her want to smack herself then beat the hell out of the girl she's supposed to teach. The recent reports from Hatake were quite a surprise; he stated that the girl has above average chakra control. He estimated it to be high level Chunin to about low level Jonin and unfortunately him being Hatake Kakashi, there wasn't much detail. She sighed to herself, _more work for her_. A smirk spreads across her lips at the thought of the girl's chakra control, if it really is that developed then she had no doubt the girl will be a force to be reckoned with, once she was done with her. After all in theory having extremely good chakra control technically allows you to learn and master any Jutsu.

Not to mention the girl did also survive the curse seal, probably the reason why she's assigned to the pinkette. Thinking of the curse seal the Jonin unconsciously moves her hand to the mark. She frowns at her failure; she swore long ago that she would make sure no one would ever get marked again. She shakes her head to rid the thoughts as her mind returns back to her student.

Only one in ten people survive the curse seal and yet she did. Yeah, it's got to mean something. And how can she forget the preliminary fight with the Yamanaka girl, not only did she break out of their family's secret clan Jutsu but she was also able to control the curse mark.

_Chakra control plus broom head's own original Jutsu; Chidori, _the girl will definitely have a name for herself and go down in history.

With a new goal, a determined gleam sparkles in her chocolate brown orbs before she spots her destination and her eyes light up with a predatory gleam as an excited grin breaks out on her face.

A.B.I.D

Sakura stomps her way down the stairs with an angry scowl, though she was not particular angry with the one banging on her door.

'BANG, BANG!'

"Alright, hold your god damn horses!" Okay maybe, just a little of the reason why she's in a bad mood is due to the banging that woke her up from her nightmare free slumber, which she hasn't had since the Chunin exams started. But the main reason for her mood is because it's noon! She's stopped training with Kakashi-sensei for one day and she's already slacking! Her scowl deepens at the thought; a vein appears on the side of her forehead and begins to throb as the banging gets louder. She growls and stomps even harder against the wooden floors to the front door.

"Oi pinkie, open the fucking door already!"

Her hand stops just over the door handle. _That voice! Why does it sound oddly familiar? _Her teeth grit at the thought, she has an eidetic memory and she couldn't remember who the voice belonged to!_ Definitely because of the stupid curse seal_, she concluded as she cursed Orochimaru with every profanity she knew under her breath.

"I know yar' there pink! I can feel ya chakra on the other side of the door!"

Her scowl returns as she literally rips the door open before she freezes and blinks in shock at her sudden visitor, her expression changes into one of confusion as she couldn't for the life of her remember who the person in front her was.

"Bout' time pink." The ridiculously familiar tone makes her eye twitch. She could practically hear the grin that her 'visitor' wore on their face.

"Grr…" Pink! Pink! Oh, how she fucking hated being called names that associates her to her hair. "The names Haruno Sakura, not pink." She growls with the most menacing glare she could conjure up at the moment.

The special Jonin grins at the pinkette, _so she actually has a personality. _She thought, inwardly thanking Kami that the girl isn't a fan girl or at least is one with a bark, "A feisty one, eh?"

The rosette's eyes squints as she tries to put a name to the person in front of her, she blinks as a name comes to mind. _Mitarashi Anko!_ The psychotic second proctor of the Chunin exams and Naruto like kunoichi! What the hell is she doing at her door at this ungodly hour!

"Ya kna, it's polite to invite guests in." The obnoxious voice of her 'guest' interrupts her train of thought.

The pinkette blinks at the exam proctor before her manners kicks in, "shit! Sorry, c-come in." She replies as she opens the door wider for the older woman to enter.

And the special Jonin does exactly that, she steps into the pinkette's two floor house with a wandering gaze, she chuckles as she returns her gaze to the younger girl. "Didn't take ya for one ta have such colourful language pink."

Sakura's eyes widen as she realises what she just said. _God dammit! Why do I keep doing that!_ She growls and glares at the ground as if it was the cause of all her problems before her eyes widen again, _Shit! I'm at home! If mom heard me say such things, she would probably rinse my mouth with soap again._ She winces at the memory. "Mom?" she calls out hesitantly before sighing in relief. She glares back at the special Jonin when she realised what she said, "Told you my name's not pink, Mitarashi."

The purple headed kunoichi blinks at the missing suffix, which people would usually add out of respect or fear. She chuckles again, _the girl just got interesting._

"Well, I like pink." Her lips split into a teasing grin.

_So pinkie has anger issues._ The special Jonin mused as she noticed the younger girl's eye twitch and her hands clench into fists. _This is going to be one fun month!_

"Well, it's Sa-ku-ra. Now get it right!"

Anko smirks at the outburst, "pink."

Sakura's eye twitching got much worst as it twitched violently at the word; you could have easily mistaken it for some kind of spasm or something, "God dammit, you damned psycho. Have you got selective hearing or something?!"

The pinkette smirks smugly as she notices a slight twitch to the special Jonin's eyebrow.

"Wanna say that again Pinkie!"

"What did you just call me, Psycho?"

"Ya heard me, ya pink haired goody two shoes, little boy."

And for the next ten or so minutes the special Jonin and Genin were glaring and insulting one another from personality to hair colour to body figure.

The girl huffs as she heads to the kitchen with her arms crossed, "want something to drink?" she offers as she remembers Anko is a guest and she should always treat a guest especially a superior with respect, _no matter how infuriating they are._

"Tea's cool."

Sakura nods and prepares the tea, "what are you doing here anyway? I don't think you came here at this ungodly hour to insult me."

Anko blinks before she remembers her reason for even visiting the pink haired girl, "Oh yeah, I'm trainin' ya from now on."

At the reply Sakura drops everything in hand and spins around with her jaw half way to the ground and stares at the special Jonin.

"Ya kno, ya might want to close dat'. Ya don't want to be catching flies or somethin'."

"You've got to be joking!"

"Of course, it was a joke pi-"

"No, I meant the training thing!"

"Hm… Nope, ya can even ask the Hokage if ya want, he put ya under my command last night."

Her mouth closes as her eyes squint at the older kunoichi in disbelief, _great I'm stuck with a psychotic and more infuriating Naruto._ The rosette blinks as her expression morphs into one of confusion, "how did Hokage-sama know I needed a teacher?"

"Ah! Sorry to disappoint pink, can't tell ya. It's a little secret only known to the high ranks."

Sakura scoffs, "you mean the elderly."

"Oi, I'm not old!" Anko denied with a glare that would have made any Genin and civilian drop dead on the spot but luckily Sakura is immune to any death inducing glares, _thank you Sasuke_, but it did make her shiver.

"Could've fooled me," Sakura replies with a teasing smile, happy that she's getting a reaction out of the older kunoichi, but the sensible and more mature side of her was wandering where all this back chat was coming from. She'll have to deal with it later, teasing Mitarashi Anko was fun. _No wonder why Sasuke likes to wind Naruto up, so much._

Anko scowls and crosses her arms like a sulking child, being on the teasing end was not fun! She couldn't remember the last time she got teased by someone, everyone was too scared or disliked her to even tease her except Ibiki but the two mentally deranged shinobi have bantered with one another ever since they started working with each other. And yet this Genin in front of her that's supposed to be her student was talking back to her and teasing her!

Sakura giggles as the kettle audibly signals it is done and turns around to finish the preparation for the tea, "it's that stupid glass ball on his desk, isn't it?"

"Smart one Pink,"

Sakura glares at the boiling kettle at the use of the name, "it's not that hard to put two and two together."

"Ya wouldn't believe how long it takes some people to figure that out."

"Hm, maybe you're right, I know that Naruto for the life of him wouldn't have figured it out."

"Loud mouth Uzumaki?" Anko chuckles, "The kid is unbelievably dense for a shinobi."

"Like you can call him loud mouth," Sakura mumbles.

"Oi, Ya say something?" The older Kunoichi growls.

"Nothing at all," Sakura replies in a sing song voice.

Anko scowls, "ya away from scarecrow for one day and you're already slacking."

Sakura scowls before a confused expression paints its way onto her face, she giggles as her mind connects the dots, "you call Kakashi-sensei scarecrow?"

"Nope, broom head too."

Sakura giggles again, _the names are certainly fitting. _Her scowl returns, "I wasn't slacking, I overslept which wasn't intentional and I wouldn't have known what on earth I was going to do today."

"Well, now ya do."


	4. Torture with Anko: Week 1

Anko blinks in disbelief at the sweaty and panting girl that lay on the ground, spread like an eagle. She couldn't believe that the girl in front of her was the same girl she saw a week ago at the Chunin exams. Though she didn't get a hit on her, she could see the girl's Tai Jutsu and speed has improved tremendously. From the way the girl moved like she had a tonne of bricks tied to her limbs she guessed Broom Head gave her a set of weights. _Gee I wonder where he got the idea from. _She smirks as she thought about telling Konoha's Green Beast that his 'eternal rival' stole one of his training methods. She chuckles at the thought.

Hearing a groan, she turns back to her student to see her trying to lift herself up. _Those weights must weigh a bunch… _Oh! How she couldn't wait to rip'em off, from what she remembered she was already quite quick on her toes and that was without proper training. Her lips split into a giant grin, _just wait 'til the end of the month. _

"So, how did I do Anko-sensei?" The rosette asked her breathing much calmer now.

The special Jonin inwardly grins at being called sensei; "Hmm, pretty shabby for a Genin," At the statement Sakura's face scrunches up into a scowl, "now get up."

"What! Don't I get a break or something?!"

"Nope, ya got loads of trainin' to catch up on." Sakura's scowl deepens, "plus yar' chakra reserves stink. Believe me pink; when I say they stink, they stink real' bad. I think I've met dogs with better reserves than ya." Even with a week of intense training, the girl's reserves were only that of a rookie Genin straight out of the academy.

Sakura growls in frustration, silently cursing herself for not taking training seriously before now, "so what do I do?"

Anko grins with a sadistic glint in her eyes, "there's three ways to increase chakra reserves; meditating and over exerting yourself physically. So for now yar' gonna run laps."

"Eh?! Laps! You've got to be fucking kidding me! What's that going to do? And I thought you said there's three ways?" The Genin screeched.

"Yeah but don't worry bout' it for now, we ain't at that stage yet. Anyways, laps increase speed, stamina and reserves. What ya really want ta' be stuck with a Chibi Chidori for the rest of yar' life?"

Sakura glares half-heartedly at the special Jonin as she was too focused on getting up with her jelly like limbs, "alright." She starts to make her way to the exit of the training ground when Anko grabs her wrist which causes her to scowl at the offending hand, "what now?!"

"Has Broom Head taught ya how to walk on water?"

The rosette shakes her head, "he only taught us the tree climbing exercise."

"Hmm, what has that idiot Hatake taught ya?" The purple headed Jonin asked with a raised brow.

"Well before the Chunin exams he only made us do team building exercises and only trained us in the Land of Waves on tree climbing, after our encounter with Zabuza. Then afterwards he helped me in speed, Tai Jutsu and Chidori.

Anko scowled, "Fuckin' scarecrow. What on fuckin' Earth was he thinkin'?!" she turns her attention back to her student and grins, _bout' time to see whether her chakra control is as good as the bastard says it is. _"Try it on that lake," she nods in the direction of the small lake by the training ground, "afterwards yar' gonna do ya laps."

Sakura groans as she makes her way to the edge of the lake. Raising her hands to form the Ram Seal and channelling some chakra to the bottom of her feet - putting the amount she did for the tree climbing exercise, she puts her right foot on the surface. Frowning as her foot sinks in halfway, her brows furrow before nodding to herself. _I see the water doesn't have a sturdy structure like a tree, so the amount of chakra I need to use has to be balanced but I need to be able to change the frequency since its molecules move around much easier than those within a tree. _Taking a deep breath she steadies her chakra and applies her other foot, seeing her foot stay on the surface she lifts her other and starts to take hesitant baby steps on the water. About half a dozen baby steps, she grins and begins to sprint across the surface.

Anko nods approvingly and smirks, slightly impressed. The girl in front of her is the only person she knows that has ever gotten the water walking technique down on their first try. Her eyes widen as she blinks a few times before squinting, her eyes narrowing at her new student's feet. _They weren't leaving the fucking surface! She's fucking skating! _The size of her smirk increases, _the girl just might have what it takes to surpass Tsunade._

"Good, now ten laps around the village and come find me afterwards."

"WHAT!" But the pinkette's exclaim went unheard as the Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A.B.I.D

The rosette collapsed against the closest wall, breathing heavily and red faced. Her eyes squint in concentration as she tries to remember whether she did something to deserve such torture. _Damn it! Why did Hokage-sama have to assign me to a Psychotic Kunoichi? And one that trumps Kakashi-sensei in sadism!_

Sakura growled in annoyance, _great now I have to find the blasted monster woman! But where to start_? She inwardly thanked Kakashi-sensei as an idea came to mind. She closes her eyes and spreads out her chakra as far as she can in an attempt to look for her new instructor. _Bingo!_ Her face scrunches into a scowl when she realises the location of her new sensei. _Oh wells, at least I can get some food, _she thought as she drags herself to the Dango shop.

A.B.I.D

Feeling a familiar chakra signature the special Jonin looks towards the enterance with a grin. _She's done already? She did better than I thought. _"So, ya found me."

Sakura glares at the special Jonin and plops herself down on to a stool, in front of the 'monster woman'.

"Took ya long enough," Anko said as she takes a bite out of one of her dango.

"Well, I would've finished much quicker if a certain monster woman let me have a break or some food!" The rosette snapped at her instructor with another glare.

"Oi! What ya call me brat?!" Anko replied with one of her own glares.

"You fuckin' heard me!" Sakura growled, after the torture she was just put through, she was in no mood for respect or formality.

"Pink!" Seeing her new student twitch caused the special Jonin to smirk.

Sakura opens her mouth to retort but is interrupted, "hello, Sakura-chan. Nice to see you back again."

Turning her gaze from the special Jonin in front of her to the shop keeper, she grins. "Hello, Isshin-san!"

Anko blinks in confusion, "eh? Ya' know each other?"

"Ah! Of course, Sakura-chan here is one of my best customers. Her love for dango almost rivals yours."

Anko raises a brow, "really now?" Her student was getting more and more interesting by the minute. She figured that since she was a fan girl, she would be worried about her figure and all that bull shit but then again the pinkette was different from what she's read of her.

Isshin nodded enthusiastically with a grin before turning to the younger girl, "the usual?"

Sakura nods with a grin, feeling eyes on her she turns back to her teacher. "What?"

"Didn't know ya like dango."

"You never asked." The rosette replied with a shrug.

"Alright, meet me at the training ground at sunrise. Yar' better not have picked up Broom Head's bad habits, ya kno."

"Sunrise got it." The rosette said with a nod as her Dango arrives. As Sakura watched her new teacher disappear with a stereo-typical 'POOF' she couldn't help but smile as she took a bite out of her Dango. Her stomach soared with excitement at finally having someone give their full attention to her. And with that, she quickly finished off her Dango so she could get home, get showered and try some meditating before getting a good night rest that she was sure she will need. Walking up to the counter with her tray and cup in hand, the girl sets the things on the counter as she pulls out the amount of money needed for her food, "here you are Isshin-san." she turns to leave but stops when she hears her favourite shop keeper calling her name.

"Hmm?" she looks at him over her shoulder.

"Anko-san hasn't paid yet." He states with a sympathetic smile.

The pinkette blinks once, twice and three times before growling, "DAMMIT ANKO!"

A.B.I.D

Sakura woke up with a familiar aching feeling though much worse than with Kakashi. She was thankful that she had a week's training with him otherwise she was sure that her muscles would hurt way more than they did at the moment. She groans as she makes her way towards the bathroom. Every morning has been like this, she would wake up groaning, aching and sore all over but then again the aches in her joints made her feel proud of herself. It's been a long time since she felt this way about herself, before she prided herself in her intelligence but after becoming a Genin and seeing the outside world, she realised knowledge and facts on history and Jutsu was nothing if she didn't have the Chakra or body to do it. As she rubbed body lotion on her arms, she could feel the muscle building within them, she grins at the difference. Before the week and a half of training her arms were like jelly, but now they were much harder and firmer, you could physically see them being stronger than they used to be. She was proud of her improvement; though not enough to hit Anko she was at least fast enough to dodge most of the crazy kunoichi's weapons.

On the second day of training the Psychotic Woman decided on another sadistic training exercise where she would throw pointy weapons at her to help her with her evasiveness and awareness. She shudders as she remembers the first time she tried the exercise, she ended up with more cuts and scratches than she could remember. After day two of torture with Anko, there seemed to be an unwritten training schedule with breaks and lunch which Sakura was thankful for, though during the lunch breaks she made sure to get out of the training ground or whatever area they were in before she could get roped into buying the special Jonin food again. Which she still needed to get payback for, a shiver runs down her spine as she remembers the morning of the second day when she tried to get payback by trying to kick Anko's ass in the morning spar but instead got her ass handed to herself. _Those spars hurt and worse they happen twice a day. _The unwritten training schedule included two spars a day, one at the beginning of the session and another at the end, which were the ones, she's most afraid of due to her body being too exhausted from the earlier training exercises.

As she rubbed body lotion on her legs, a smile made its way onto her lips as her hands moved over the muscles in her calves and thighs. She was definitely making an improvement and Anko must think so since she increased her laps to fifteen on the fourth day. She also increased her sit ups and push ups which Anko made her start doing on the second day, before she only had to do two hundred but now she has to do five hundred.

Running her hands through her hair, she frowns at the texture of the strands. They were dry and clearly un-kept; thanks to the training sessions she has to wash her hair more than usual, _when Anko-sensei gives me some time off or something I need to go get some new shampoo._ At least she hoped that her teacher would give her some time off but then again the past four days with the monster woman showed her that she was definitely missing a few screws and added points to her question on whether the woman should ever be near children at all.

Oh wells, what could she do? After all, the woman did take time out of her duties to train her. Even if the training was boring as hell, she liked the physical improvements but come on, couldn't she be improving her Chidori or something! She sighs; _I guess beggars can't be choosers…._ She thought as she makes her way out of the bathroom to get ready for another day of torture…

"Alright, Sakura-chan ya did well this time. I think it's time for something a bit more difficult." Anko said with a grin, moving her hand in a 'follow me' motion as she sped off. Sakura groans as she climbs to her feet and takes off in the direction her teacher did, _I need to ask Anko-sensei to teach me how to Shunshin!_

A.B.I.D

The rosette raised a brow at her teacher, "so what do I do?"

The psychotic kunoichi grins; her eyes sparkled with a sadistic glint. "This is a training course."

"You don't say." Sakura retorted while rolling her eyes.

Anko smacks the younger girl around the head, "Shut up for a moment will ya! As I was sayin' this is a training course," her grin stretched even wider, "A training course for rookie ANBUs and Jonin training to be ANBU."

Sakura gaps at her teacher, "and how in hell do you expect me to do that!"

"Eh? Ya'll be fine, yar evasion, speed and awareness has increased a lot." Anko waves her hand in a 'don't worry about it' motion.

The rosette bit her bottom lip in uncertainty, "you sure?"

The purple headed Jonin puts a comforting hand on her student's shoulder, "trust me. Yar' gonna be fine and Ima be ere' if ya need me." Looking up into her instructor's eyes, she saw the confidence in them which seemed to give her the boost she needed. She nods and heads to the start of the course.

The first time she went through the course, she only got to about a quarter of the way before Anko had to rescue her which she was thankful for otherwise she would have been gutted by a flying kunai. As the day went on, with each try on the training course, she got a little further from the point of where she would get saved. However after their lunch break, her performance seemed to drop. When she tried after the lunch break, she didn't even make it past the first obstacle before she had to get saved.

"Oi, yar okay Sakura-chan?" Anko asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I guess." Sakura replies, rubbing at her eyes with fisted hands.

The special Jonin frowned at her student, "yar' games been kinda off since we got back."

"Yeah, I felt kind of woozy at lunch, there's something wrong with my eyes I think."

Anko's brows furrow in concern, "why ya say that?"

"They've been kind of irritating ever since I got the curse mark." Realising what she said, her eyes widen as she looks up. And to her surprise she was met with soft brown eyes. The look didn't look right on the psychotic kunoichi's face that she has come to know. She groans as she rubs her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, feeling a migraine coming.

Anko's eyes narrow at the girl's left shoulder, "ya okay, Sakura-chan? Maybe we should go to the hospital."

"Eh? Don't worry about it; I just think I need a goodnight sleep."

Anko frowned, "yar' sure?"

The pinkette nodded.

The special Jonin sighsand picks up her student bridal style.

Feeling herself get lifted off the ground, she looks up at her teacher. "H-hey what are you doing!"

"Aint it obvious, I'm taking ya home."

The pinkette looks into her instructor's eyes before looking away with a blush.

"Aw, is little Sakura-chan embarrassed." The exam proctor teased.

"Shut up," she mumbled back before wincing from the pain of her headache and snuggling into the special Jonin's shirt which causes Anko to raise a brow before smiling a little as she skipped across rooftops.

A.B.I.D

"So yar' feeling better Sakura-chan?"

"My headache's gone but my eyes are still irritating me."

"Ya wanna go to a medic Nin after a spar."

"Yeah, I guess."

Like always Anko charged at Sakura first, her fist aiming for the Genin's face. Sakura blocks the punch and aims her own which was also blocked. They exchange a few punches and kicks at one another before Anko ducks down which makes Sakura's punch miss and spins her leg in an attempt to trip her student. The pinkette however saw it coming and back flips. Anko's brow furrow, _when did Sakura get this good?_ She should have gotten at least three hits by now. She didn't have time to think about her student's sudden improvement as a barrage of speeding punches and kicks came at her. Surprised at the sudden outburst of speed, Anko Shunshins behind the pinkette and aims a punch at her head which she blocks with her arm and tries a roundhouse kick. Anko body flickers again but this time around the rosette in a circle whilst throwing multiple weapons. Sakura was forced to dodge, weave and deflect the senbons, kunais and shurikens coming at her.

Anko blinks seeing that none of her weapons had hit the pinkette, once again the question of her student's improvement popped into her head. She was always able to get a few hits on the rosette. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a fist coming at her, which she blocks just in time. Her eyes widens slightly as her eyes meet with her students.

"What?" Sakura asks with her head tilted to the side slightly like a confused puppy.

Anko's eyes narrow at the pinkette in front of her, she couldn't feel any dark chakra coming from her, then how?

The rosette scowls as she watches her teacher move around her like she was some kind of experiment. "Anko-sensei, what the hell are you doing? And why are you moving around so slow!"

Anko blinks at her student, "what do you mean I'm moving slow?"

"It's like your moving around in slow motion. I have no idea what happened but after you started throwing weapons at me, it's like the whole world slowed down."

The special Jonin's chocolate eyes narrow as she grabs the younger girl's chin and tilts her head slightly. "Are ya sane?"

"W-what?! Of course, I'm mother fucking sane! And like you should be asking me that!" The pinkette screeched, pulling herself out of the special Jonin's grip.

"Take a kunai and look at your eyes."

Sakura's brows furrow but she does as she is told, her eyes widen at what she saw. Her eyes were no longer green but a sickly yellowy-green, much like the colour of Orochimaru's. Like the snake Sannin, the pupil is stretched vertically. However surrounding the outstretch pupil is two rings and a comma like the tomoe of a Sharigan or one of the markings on her neck. A thin line also outlined the comma. Her left eye was slightly different; though the colour and design was the same it had an extra 'comma' and two diagonal bars on the second ring of her eye.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" the rosette yelled out, her eyes wide in shock and horror.

"Does the curse seal hurt?" her teacher asked seriously.

The rosette shakes her head, "I don't think it's active at the moment. If it were, wouldn't I be covered in the marks and wreaking havoc?"

"True, come on lets go see the Hokage." The special Jonin said, doing a quick set of hand signs to cover up the pinkette's and then taking the younger girl's hand as she leads her to the Hokage tower.

As the two kunoichi's leap from rooftop to rooftop, the older one of the two kept sneaking glances at the younger girl. She was completely baffled by what happened, when she got the curse seal that didn't happen unless she accidently lost control but her eyes never got the tomoe shapes or given any ability to slow down motion. Anko's brows furrow in confusion and frustration, sure she liked surprising and confusing others but she did not like it when it happened to her, especially when Orochimaru was involved.

A.

"Mitarashi-san, you cannot go in there!" the assistant screeched, her face turned a different shade of red as the special Jonin continued to ignore her and drag the pinkette towards the Hokage's office. "Mita-" the poor assistant's protest went unheard as the purple headed Kunoichi opens the doors of the Hokage's office with an audible slam which causes the pinkette and assistant jump.

The leader of the village looks up from his work to see Anko and her new student Sakura. He raises a brow as the older one of the two stomps inside his office clearly frustrated whilst Sakura followed unwillingly, being dragged by her hand like a disobedient child. He waves a hand at his assistant signalling her it is ok and she can leave. He clears his throat, "what is the meaning of this Anko?"

"I apologise for intruding Hokage-sama but while Sakura and I were training, something unusual happened." She bowed her head apologetically.

He raises a brow, "and that would be?"

"Look at her eyes Hokage-sama," he signals the younger girl to walk around the table and towards him. She does as she is told and watches as the leader of the village's eyes widen in shock once he releases the Genjutsu over her eyes. "The curse mark is not active."

The Hokage's brows furrow in confusion, he couldn't feel any malicious chakra coming from the younger girl then what and how? "Sakura-chan, do you know what happened." He asks in a grandfatherly tone.

The younger girl shakes her head, "unfortunately I don't Hokage-sama."

"Has there been a problem with your sight?"

She shakes her head again, "no my sight has been the same, if not better."

Hiruzen's brow rises, "what do you mean?"

"After I got the curse mark, it's like my senses have been enhanced. My smell, hearing have gotten better also the awareness to my surroundings. My sight has also increased, I can see clearly in the dark now. But now everything is moving in slow motion and I think I see a little bit of chakra flow."

"Why didn't ya tell me Sakura-chan?" Anko barked, slightly angry at not knowing this.

The younger girl looks down at the ground and shrugs.

"Now, now Anko calm down. So you say your senses have been enhanced." The pinkette nods as the older man strokes his beard in wonder. "Rooster,"

An ANBU appeared in front of the Hokage's desk with his head bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Rooster, I want you to check Sakura-chan's chakra flow."

Sakura blinks in confusion at the command; she watches as the ANBU member nods and does a familiar seal. _So he's a Hyuga_, she thought.

"She is focusing chakra into her eyes." the ANBU replied, releasing his Kekkei Genkai.

"Just as I thought," the Hokage replied whilst taking a drag of his pipe. "Thank you rooster, you may go."

The ANBU bows and vanishes.

"Hokage-sama, what's going on with my eyes?" Sakura asked with a frown.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan it is nothing bad. I want you to release the Chakra in your eyes."

The pinkette's brow furrow in confusion, a person only releases chakra from their eyes when they have a doujutsu. What the hell is going on? Despite her thoughts, she does as she is told and closes her eyes and concentrates on her chakra flow. She opens her eyes as she feels the chakra from them slowly seeping away. The Hokage smiles at the familiar set of green eyes looking at him, "much better?"

Sakura nods and blinks, everything was back to normal.

"Hokage-sama, I don't understand what happened?" Anko asked with a confused expression which Sakura mirrored.

"It seems Sakura-chan here, is developing a Doujutsu." Both Kunocihi's eyes widen in shock, Sakura's jaw fell as well.

"Because of the curse seal? That never happened with me." Sakura's head turns at the last part as she watches her teacher turn her gaze to the ground. Knowing she wasn't meant to hear the last part, she made a mental note to ask her teacher later.

"Sakura, I want you to go to the hospital for a check-up while I discuss some things with Anko. Rooster,"

The ANBU appeared again in a bowed position, "I want you to escort young Sakura here to the hospital. Tell the nurses to give her a full body check."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The masked Nin turns to the younger girl and holds out his hand which she takes with a frown.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan ima be right ere' when ya get back." The younger girl nods with a small smile.

"So Anko, how is Sakura's training coming along." The Hokage asks as he leans back into his chair.

"She has improved a lot sir, are you sure she only started training at the beginning of this month? At the question the Hokage nods, "well she's definitely a quick study. The past few days I've been working her on her stamina, reserves and awareness. Though from the beginning her awareness was extremely high, if what she said about her senses being enhanced is true then that would explain it but I believe there are other side effects."

Hiruzen raised a brow, "really?"

Anko nods, "her skills have grew in leaps, her chakra reserves have doubled almost tripling over the past five days, she's become more flexible and somehow gained regenerative abilities. During sessions she would get scrapes, cuts and what not but within a couple hours they would be gone as if they were never there."

"So, the curse seal has also been enhancing her other attributes?" it was more of a statement that a question, "just like a snake" he mumbles to himself, "with the progress she is making, how far do you think she'll go?"

At the question the special Jonin smirks, "I think Sakura-chan could surpass Tsunade-sama."

The Hokage blinked before he smiles, "Really?"

Anko nods, "she has a lot of potential and her chakra control is frightening. Ya kno' she got the water walking exercise down on her first go and started skating after a few steps."

Hiruzen raised a surprised eye brow; _the girl must have extremely high chakra control. _

"And she unconsciously channels chakra into her punches. Though not ta Tsunade-sama's level but they still hit hard, even without chakra her punches pack quite a punch."

The Hokage blinks even more surprised, _to be able to channel chakra into your punches took perfect or near perfect chakra control and the girl does it unconsciously!_ Could he really have over looked a prodigy due to her background, reserves and lack of ambition?

"I know what you're thinking of Hokage-sama and I believe that Sakura-chan maybe a hidden prodigy."

"Really?"

Anko nods, "I was training her ta dodge and what not for the first four days until yesterday. I took her ta the rookie ANBU training course and she got ta bout quarter of the way on her first go and keeps getting' better with each try."

Hiruzen blinks again; the girl was full of surprises wasn't she? To be able to do a quarter of an ANBU training course and get better with each try after only properly training for thirteen days was astounding. "I'm sensing a, but here?"

"After our lunch break yesterday, she went ta' do the ANBU course again but didn't get past the first obstacle before I stepped in. She told me her eyes were irritating her more than usual and she has a migraine so I allowed her ta' return home early. Today the routine was normal, we had our usual morning spar, and her performance somehow has gotten better. Her speed was much quicker and she could see and dodge or block my punches and weapons."

"And that's how you found out about the doujutsu, am I correct?" Anko nods in reply, "Hmm, it seems the curse mark somehow has given her some positive enhancements. Though how long that will last is anyone's guess."

"But, the thing I don't get is why that happened. I've seen her mark, it is exactly the same as mine and from what I've heard of the reports from her teammate it was given in the same process."

"Yes, that is very odd. I want to you to start training her on the doujutsu. I want to know everything about it."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage smirks, dropping his serious tone, "I see you've grown fond of Sakura-chan."

Anko scoffs, her body relaxing a little, "I dunno what yar' on about."

The Hokage shakes his head. _Sakura could do her good._ "Anko, how would you like to keep teaching Sakura after the Chunin exams? I will officially move her to your command."

Anko blinks at the offer; she knows she's grown fond of the little pink haired brat. And no matter how much she denied it, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when she thought of not teaching her after the exams. Before she could school her expression, her lips split into a face splitting grin, "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way."

The Hokage smiles, hearing a knock he calls out "Come in!"

"Hokage-sama," Sakura and the rooster masked ANBU greet.

"Ya alright, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura smiles and nods as she walks to stand next to her instructor while the ANBU gives the Hokage the report from the hospital, "hmm, this is certainly interesting. Well, congratulations Sakura-chan, you have a new Doujutsu."

Sakura blinks, "eh, really?"

The Hokage smiles his famous grandfatherly smile, "yes it seems that there has been a development of your cells which have enhanced your senses and other abilities, permanently."

Anko almost gapped, she couldn't believe her ears. The curse mark from Orochimaru, which was given to her and her student, was actually doing something good for a change. Her eyes widen when a realisation hit her like a tonne of bricks. If Orochimaru ever found out about this, for sure he will try to take Sakura away. At the thought she glared at the ground, "Hokage-sama." Everyone turns their attention to the purple headed Kunoichi.

"Hm, yes what is it Anko?"

"I think it is best we keep this quiet."

"Yes, I agree with you. If Orochimaru ever found out about this development, I fear the worst. Sakura I want you to keep quiet about the enhancement of your abilities and only use the Doujutsu in time of need." the pinkette nods, "this shall stay between us four understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Anko, The ANBU and Sakura chorused.

"Rooster, make sure who ever did the check up on Sakura stays silent." the ANBU nods and disappears. "Well, since this is cleared up I believe the two of you can go back to training."

A.B.I.D

As Sakura and Anko left the Hokage's office, the assistant immediately shot a glare at Anko who countered with one of her own, which made the assistant back down and look away.

"What did you mean when you said 'that never happened to me'?" Sakura asks breaking the silence that loomed over them as they left the Hokage tower.

Anko sighs, silently cursing herself for her slip. "Don't worry about it Sakura-chan."

Sakura frowns as she turns to her teacher, _why the hell do Jonin and special Jonin have to be so secretive?! _It drove her bonkers. "From the sentence it sounds like you have the same mark as me."

Anko sighs again, knowing that her student wouldn't let the subject go though she was slightly pissed at the prying. She knew couldn't blame the girl for her curiosity after all, if it was the other way around, she for sure would have done anything she could to find out, "yar' really wanna kno?"

Sakura nods.

The purple headed special Jonin swallowed, slightly afraid of what might happen once she told the pinkette her tale. After all her student was also a victim of her ex-sensei, "I was Orochimaru's apprentice when I was younger," she looks at the pinkette from the corner of her eye and takes another deep breath at seeing a blank look on the younger girl's face. "He betrayed me when I was around your age, he took me out of Konoha," she watched as her student's eyes widen slightly, "yeah I was a missing Nin for a while but afterwards I finally saw his true colours." Her hands clench into fists at her sides, "he was nothing but an evil bastard and then he gave me this mark," she pulled down the collar of her trench coat to show the pinkette the mark on her neck, "and abandoned me on some island. Later I was found by ANBU and well here I am." Anko frowned at the lack of reaction she was getting from the younger girl, "ya kno' I understand if ya don't want me ta' train ya anymore. I can tell Hokage-sama to move ya to someone else's command." She said as she looked away.

For the rest of the walk to the training ground Sakura's hands were fisted in her jacket pockets as she thought over her teacher's tale and how the snake bastard betrayed her and left her for dead with the same blasted mark on her neck that she had. She looks up at her instructor to see her with her head down and shoulders slumped, she frowns as she remembers the tone the older Kunoichi spoke in when she asked her whether she wanted to be moved to someone else's command. It was soft, weak and filled with sorrow. Her stomach twisted at the thought of her walking away from Anko, yeah sure the woman was a bit on the mentally deranged side and was a sadist but she could see that the older Kunoichi cared for her. Not that she would ever admit it out loud but she's grown fond of Anko. Like Naruto, the Dango loving woman grew on her like fungus and somewhere along the past few days, she became someone she wants to protect and cherish. With her choice decided, she grins at the special Jonin and tugs at her sleeve.

Anko raised her head to look at her student or ex-student; she blinks in confusion at the grin on her face.

"So, what are you going to teach me next Anko-sensei?"

The special Jonin's eyes widen in shock as her student called her sensei. Her student didn't care about her betrayal to Konoha or that she is the ex-apprentice to Orochimaru who gave her the stupid curse seal. She actually wanted her to carry on training her! She looks into the younger girl's eyes, they were not filled with pity, loathing, disgust, despair or hate that has been directed at her by the older generations that know of her betrayal but genuine care and fondness; beneath the emotions she could see the hidden words 'I'm never leaving you.' She smiles at the pinkette, "come on brat, ya still have taa finish the training course. Race ya there!" She said as she sped off in the direction of the training ground, she couldn't believe that there was someone else besides Ibiki, Kurenai and the Hokage that accepted her especially Sakura, another victim of the bastard's actions.

**Don't you hate it when you don't know the precise age of a character... :( If anyone knows the actual age of Anko then please tell, it would help a lot!**


End file.
